Imago Dei
by FrustratedAsexualCatLover
Summary: What if... Ray Akaba had been truly revived in the series to duel Zarc? How would that process go? And most importantly... What would happen to Yuzu that would cause her to become Ray's vessel?
1. Conception

I hope you enjoyed this first part.

You see I see these interesting stories and doujins that talk about the Yuus and their struggles with Zarc, but that same love isn't given to the Bracelet Girls.

Also the doujin think inspired me to do this fic was by Yvonne of pixiv.  
touch . pixiv member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=60553018

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"Where... where am I?"

From Yuzu could remember, one moment she was in a tube watching her best friend slowly falling into the darkness, then sleepiness, then she was here... standing in this bright void.

That thought soon reanimated her being, "Yuya... I have to help Yuya! I have to-"

 _"After just seeing that, you still think you can save him?"_

Yuzu jumped a bit at the voice since she had thought that she was alone in this space. "Who said that? Show yourself!" She demanded as she scanned the area for the owner of the voice.

 _"You must have known that after his first taste that it was the point of no return..."_

The movement of Yuzu's head grew slightly sharper as her eyes darted in every direction only to find nothing.

 _"After all..."_

Left, nothing. Right, nothing. Behind her, nothing. In front of her, nothing. Everywhere, nothing!

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing but empty spaces. Where was that voice coming from!?

Then, like a glimmer of light, Yuzu's eyes were locked on one spot in the void. At first, it appeared as nothingness among the abyss until she focused more intensely that she saw a being that seemed like an enigma of soft light with slight flutters of gold. Suddenly, the fluttering enigma was with a breath's inch of Yuzu's face, peering into her soul.

Soon Yuzu's eyes widen as the enigma's image became clearer among the golden flickers.

She saw eyes. _**Her eyes!**_

 _"You are a part of me..."_

Yuzu jumped away from the being, slightly in defense, slightly in surprise, regardless she wanted to put as much distance between her and it as possible. Readying herself for a fight in case it was hostile.

Soon the voice, the eyes, and memories of Leo's accounts of the original dimension began to slowly form inside her head a picture of the owner.

"You're Ray, aren't you?" Yuzu inquired of the phantom while maintaining her distance from... her, however, she did not hear the slight hesitates in her own voice.

The phantom was silent and slowly advanced towards the girl until it... she... decided to end it all the while not tearing her eyes away from Yuzu. _"Yes, I am Ray Akaba."_ The enigma answered affirmatively in a strong voice that felt like a driven warrior.

Armed with the knowledge of the being, Yuzu decided to press her for more information, "Where am I!? How do I get out of here!?" She demanded as kept her stance.

 _"That is an unimportant questi-"_ Ray replied rather flatly until Yuzu interjected. "It's important to me! I have to help my friends!"

 _"No, you don't hav-"_

"Yes I do! I have to help them, I have to help Yuya!" Yuzu proclaimed as she turned to search for a way out of this abyss.

Like a flash of lightning, the feeling of a hand gripping her shoulder and forcibly spinning her back until she was gazing back into Ray's eyes.

Then in a calm but authoritative voice, Ray spoke these words.

 _"You were not created to save him, none of you were meant to save anyone... you and your other counterparts were only created to prevent Zarc from being reborn..."_

Yuzu's eyes widen at this statement, but soon regained her mental fortitude and sharply removed the "hand" from her shoulder. "I don't care what I or anyone else was created for, I know who I am and I'm going to find a way out of here and help my friends!"

The phantom of Ray observed her fragment with a slight look of knowing disappointment as if she predicted this response would come soon or later. Her eyes had softened as the golden light still shimmered occasionally.

 _"You are truly like me during that time, clinging on to a comforting thought despite what had happened that was breaking it..."_ Her eyes soon resumed their original hard gaze _"And lacking in true hindsight."_

"So what! I'm Yuzu! Not you! And neither are Serena, Ruri, and Rin!" The Standard fragment barked as she backed away from her predecessor, however, a twinge of pain from her shoulder halted her footsteps as she touched the sore area.

Ray still continued her path towards Yuzu, her movement painfully slow as she decided to speak again, _"You know nothing of your other counterparts or of yourself."_

The light of the enigma started to ripple as though it was like water. Then the being soon began to transfigure into a human shape, then came detail, then color, and then...

Yuzu felt like her heart had stopped as she stared on in shock.

"...Ruri?"

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	2. Angel Aura

Here is the second chapter!

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"...Ruri?"

"Ruri" still peered at Yuzu as the other went back to maintaining her distance despite the pain in her shoulder growing slightly more intense at a snail's pace.

 _"I went through their memories, what they saw, what they felt..."_ At that instant, cracks began to form on "Ruri's" face and quickly spread throughout her entire body.

 _"And from what I saw I realized the similarities between what happened then and what is currently happening..."_

Slowly, like paint peeling from a statue, the pieces of "Ruri" started to float away from the form and circled around her until it was bare of color and detail.

Yuzu's eyes were heavily fixed on the fluttering pieces of Ruri, trying to make sense of what was unfolding before her. Then the pieces soon flew towards her and began to swarm around her. As the pieces darted towards her, Yuzu raised her arm to shield her face from the flurry of colored shards but noticed that she felt no pain as they entered into her body.

She lowered her arms to survey the damage but there was no scratches on her, no injuries, none whatsoever... but strangely the lack of wounds seemed make the Melodious user more uneasy rather than relieved.

The pain in her shoulder soon returned as to remind her that it was still there and increasing with now a new burning sensation to the unpleasantness. No, she must keep herself steady, she cannot let Ray win over. She must...

"Yuto there you are!"

What? What was this?

Yuzu began realized to that she was out of the abyss and in a city that she's never been to... but it felt oddly familiar to her. It was not until after she made note that she not in control of her body and walking towards some sort of cafe.

What was going on? Where was she this time!?

"Hey Ruri!"

Wait...Yuto... Ruri...

Was she in Heartland... before the Invasion?

She felt herself walking towards a table with a boy seated... it was Yuto. Yuzu discovered that he looked different... he looked happier and light hearted. Far different from the hardened warrior that she had interacted with. Maybe that's what war does to a person.

The body she was viewing from took a seat in front of Yuto and then hear a voice that was not her's leaving a mouth that she had no control over. "So how was your day, Yuto?"

"It was okay, anyway I got you something!" Yuto announced as he began to dig into his backpack.

She felt Ruri cock her head to the side in confusion, "what's the occasion, it's not my birthday, or White Day, or Christmas. It's not even our anniversary yet?"

"I know, but you did so great your match today that I felt like you deserved something nice and I knew that you wanted these." He explained as he placed a small box in front of her.

Yuzu soon felt emotions of gentle love for the body that she was watching from, "Yuto, that's really sweet of you. Thank you!"

"Open it!" He gently encouraged, "I hope you like it." He blushed a little as Ruri began to open the gift.

She first undid the ribbon and then removed the lid of the box. In the box revealed a pair of earrings with three light blue feathers that were held together by a golden pearl on each earring, similar to the ones that the current Ruri was wearing. "Yuto... these are beautiful! You shouldn't have!"

"No really, you really deserve them! They would look good on you."

Yuzu felt her XYZ counterpart's gaze linger on the earrings before bringing it to the trees, "I'm really touched by this, although I would have preferred if you had waited for a truly special occasion to give me this, it is still really sweet you, Zarc"

Wait... did she just say... Zarc?

She waited for Yuto to speak to hear his reaction to Ruri calling him Zarc, until she noticed something different about her surrounding. The city, it was completely different from she had in, it seemed more futuristic than Heartland. She felt her head turned again to look at Yuto. What Yuzu saw unnerved her.

The person sitting in front of her was older by a few years, with silver hair with light green highlights and yellow eyes. The unsettling part for her was the man had the same the face as Yuto with the same loving and soft look that Yuto gave to her... Ruri...

Yuzu was no longer Ruri... she was Ray!

"It's just that you're one of the people that's special to me, Ray, and I wanted you to know that!" His voice was soft and sweet, nothing she would had expected for the one that nearly destroyed the whole world.

"Hey why don't you put it on? It would look good with what your wearing now!" Zarc pointed to the present in front of her. Yuzu turned her gaze towards the unopened box and saw that the gift had shifted as well.

Instead of a pair of earrings, it was a circular band made of silver with a raw light blue iridescent quartz in the center that reminded her of... of Yuya's pendant...

It was a bracelet.

Her thoughts were broken when Zarc spoke against and he moved his hands in an animated manner, "I got it from this really cool shop downtown! The clerk told me that the crystal is called Angel Aura Quartz and that they are like cleansers for your soul or something like that, and that's it's great for empaths!"

Yuzu felt Ray's mood drop by that phrase from love and gratitude to slight amusement as Ray let out a chuckles. "You know that I don't personally believe in that stuff, Zarc?" She watched Zarc shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat as realized that he may made an purchase based on a tall tale.

"I know that, but the clerk was so nice and it looked so pretty that I thought you would love it," he defended himself, ceasing his uncomfortable squirming in his seat. His gaze changed to a more loving and maybe playfully accusatory gaze as he slowly leaned across the table. "Although, I can find it funny that you don't believe in stuff like healing crystals when people like us exist."

People like us? What did he mean by people like "us"?

Then Yuzu recalled what both Leo had stated before Zarc's abilities and what Zarc said earlier about empaths. Did Ray also have powers?

Ray soon leaned toward as well with a bit of same feelings to him and whispered, "It's okay Zarc, I love it regardless...". They leaned even more closer, "Besides, people like us..."

Closer still as their eyelids began to drop, Yuzu shutter as she felt Zarc's warm breath on Ray's lips.

"We're a different case..."

Then warmth from his lips made contact with Ray's, "I love you, Ray".

It was quiet, painfully quiet.

Then there was a flash, then... an explosion.

Her eyes snapped open to her surroundings which had changed again.

At first, there was a fuzzy image of gray and red accompanied by chaotic chorus of screams and destruction. As her vision began to clear, Yuzu soon realized that this was another memory she was experiencing... But was it still Ray's memories or Ruri's?

In the sea of people that ran for their lives, she saw a flash of violet light and the crowd that was in front of her disappeared only to be replaced with cards. She felt the body she inhabited start to run far away the sight.

Yuzu could not process what was going around her as the body ran further and further, her lungs and legs burned with every minute. She could only see what was in her front of her which nothing but rubble, fire, and people running for their lives.

The girl stopped to catch her breath and looked up... that was when Yuzu realized whose memories she was in when she witness the titanic Chaos Ancient Gear Giants towering over her and the carding of people around her.

She was Ruri again... This was the invasion of Heartland...

"Lightning Disobey of Rebellion!"

Relief came to Ruri when she heard those words as Yuzu felt her sprit again to the source. It meant one thing, Yuto was alive!

She soon came across Yuto, who was engaged in a duel with three Academia soldiers, and he had the upper hand. Both Yuzu and the memory Ruri shared mutual feelings of ease at the knowledge that Yuto was okay, however Yuzu experienced a sudden change in her XYZ counterpart's heart towards Yuto.

She noticed something off about Yuto. Was... Was he smiling at the damage he had caused to the soldiers?

His face appeared like it was in a state of complete euphoria as he called for another attack by his dragon. Dust and smoke from the attack soon clouded Yuzu's vision.

 _"After seeing her home destroyed and her lover smiling at the destruction he caused, she refused the acknowledge the warning"_

Yuzu cleared the dust from her eyes to again see her surrounding had changed once more. It was still brokenness and rubble, the lack of soldiers, Chaos Ancient Gear Giants... people being carded gave her the clue that she was back in Ray's memories.

There was also a feeling that Yuzu could not describe, but none of them were positive emotions... nor were they Ray's emotions she was experiencing.

Then she saw a great black dragon in the distance. It was destroying everything in its path and Yuzu could have sworn that she heard laughter from the beast.

This beast was Zarc, and then, just like that, Yuzu was back in the bright void.

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I would love to thank Shimmering-Sky for being my beta!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a happy holiday!

Please leave a review!


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